The recent deal between OSE Immunotherapeutics SA and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH may have brought renewed interest in CD47, a controversial target in immuno-oncology (I-O), but plenty of biotech outfits started before word of the tie-up. Nantes, France-based OSE licensed the preclinical SIRP-alpha antibody OSE-172, to Boehringer, of Ingelheim, Germany, for €15 million (US$18.5 million) up front, with the potential for another €15 million when the phase I study starts. Down the road, OSE could collect more than €1.1 billion if undisclosed development, commercialization and sales milestones are met, plus royalties on worldwide net sales. Read More
Any thoughts that the fortunes of public biopharmaceutical companies would change following a sub-par first quarter have been quickly dispelled after the sector chalked up another losing month with the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical index closing down about 2.5 percent that added to its overall 7 percent swoon since the beginning of the year. Read More